Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 144

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 144

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WATCHING AND WAITING .- Thus for several nights the vigil was kept up, but neither George Sapp, nor any "other feller" put in an appearance. But while still continuing our vigilance, it was thought best to have our detective "accidentally" run across George again, to ascertain the occasion of the hitch. George said they were on hand at the time designated, but became apprehen- sive that the court house was being watched, as one night, about 11 o'clock, they thought they saw a flash of light in one of the rooms as though a match had been struck, which had actually been done by one of the watchers to ascertain the time of night .. "But," continued George, "they're not watching now, and as soon as the nights get dark again, we will do the business sure."

1154

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

ARSON AS WELL AS ROBBERY .- So the watch was kept up, but no longer from the sheriff's office. At that time the jail coal-house stood flush with the street, about where the driveway now is between the jail and the large brick building upon the north. From the interior of this building, Marshal Wright and Deputy Sheriff Townsend kept watch for several nights after the moon began to darken, while Constable Burlison occupied another point of observation near by.

About 11 o'clock on the night of January 29, 1859, while the attention of the people of the town was drawn towards a burning school house at the corner of Middlebury and Spicer streets (believed to be a part of the robbery game), the sharp eye of Marshal Wright caught sight of a man stealthily creeping across the court house yard, diagonally from the northeast corner. Reaching the court house, he hastily passed entirely around the building (this was before the wings were added), and then, turning upon his heel, ran around the other way, stopping at the treasury window. Presently, the officers saw him disappear through the window, when, leaving their covert, they closed in upon him, observing, as they did so, another man rapidly running down the hill upon the west side of the grounds.

CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP .- Summoning the burglar to come forth, and receiving no response, Marshal Wright, with revolver in hand, boldly entered the office, through the open window, and groping around got hold of his man, whom he at once shoved through the window into the hands of Deputy Townsend, by whom he was immediately invested with the proper "jewels," and forthwith placed in jail.

Procuring a light, it was found that Sapp had pried the win- dow open with the broad blade of an old-fashioned mattock, with which primitive implement it was evidently the intention of the burglars to work their way into the safe in question; scientific safe-cracking not being as well understood then as it is now, though some extensive jobs were even then successfully accom- plished with as simple means as the clumsy mattock in question.

TRIAL-CONVICTION -SENTENCE .- At the March term of the court, 1859, Sapp was duly indicted, tried and convicted of bur- glary, but in consideration of his rather weak intellect, and the failure of his enterprise, as well as the probability of his being simply the tool of sharper heads, Judge Carpenter gave him the shortest sentence known to the law for the crime of burglary- one year's imprisonment in the penitentiary ..

As to his alleged accomplices nothing was developed further than his statement to the detective, and the shadowy glimpse of the second party as he was fleeing down the hill on the night of the burglary; though the fact that the principal one, on Sapp's arrest, immediately absented himself from the county, and has never returned, would seem to corroborate Sapp's statement in that regard.

SAPP'S SUBSEQUENT LIFE .- Having served out his term, Sapp returned to his old home in Northampton, but a few years later floated off West, where, at last accounts, he was living with a brother-in-law, in the State of Indiana, a poor demented wreck, occasionally returning to Summit county, where, under the real or simulated hallucination of ownership, he attempts to assume

1155

SOME OTHER NEAT OPERATIONS.

control of his "farm"-several thousand acres, extending from lot 18 to the river, north of Cuyahoga Falls.

LARGE* GANG OF COUNTERFEITERS BROKEN UP .- Clues obtained by the detective in question, and others, being followed up by the officers named, and their Ravenna coadjutors, resulted in the breaking up of an extensive gang of counterfeiters in Portage, Columbiana, Mahoning and Cuyahoga counties. In these raids . some $15,000 or $20,000 of spurious money-paper and coin-and a full wagon load of apparatus and material, consisting in part of a bank note press, rolling mill, machine for stamping coin, dies, coin in the rough, finished coin, engravers' tools, crucibles, galvanic batteries, paper, ink, acids, chemicals, and a lot of dentists' tools and daguerreotype apparatus, under cover of which the bogus business was carried on.

Several quite important parties were captured, who, with the evidences of their guilt, were turned over to the authorities of the several counties interested, and of the United States authorities at Cleveland. But as these operations were outside of Summit county, it is not necessary to follow them here, and are only alluded to in this connection to show how extensively the counter- feiting virus ramified the social fabric a third of a century ago, and as demonstrative of the zeal and skill exhibited by the public and private officers and detectives of Akron and Summit county, in the detection and punishment of crime, during the same period.

THE SHERIFF HIMSELF VICTIMIZED.

During the writer's first incumbency of the sheriff's office, from 1856 to 1861, among other official civil transactions was the closing, on attachment, of quite an extensive dry goods store at Cuyahoga Falls. Delaying the appraisement for a few days, to give the parties an opportunity to amicably adjust matters with their creditors, if possible, it was found, on proceeding with the inventory, under the direction of the chief clerk of the firm, that about one thousand dollars' worth of choice goods had meantime been abstracted from the stock.

Efforts were immediately made to trace the robbers, among other things a copy of the private cost mark of the firm being sent to Chief of Police Michael Gallagher, of Cleveland. This was on Friday. On Saturday morning I took Marshal J. J. Wright with me to Cuyahoga Falls, to aid in the investigation. We soon struck a supposed clue, by which it was deemed important to intercept a box and several packages of goods which had been shipped to parties in Detroit a few days previously. There was then no tele- graph office in either Akron or Cuyahoga Falls, and at about 11 o'clock A. M. I started, by team, for Hudson, for the purpose indi- cated.

When about half way between Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson, on the diagonal road, I met a young man in a buggy driving as rapidly as myself, who, recognizing me as we passed, shouted that he had a message for me. On tearing open the envelope, I found it to be a telegram from Chief Gallagher, saying: "I've got the thieves and the goods stolen from Cuyahoga Falls. Come quick." Finding, on inquiry, that a Cleveland bound train was due in Hud- son in about twenty minutes, I let that little grey team of mine go, pulling up at the Hudson depot just as the train was pulling in.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Giving my ponies to a boy to take to a livery stable, I boarded the train for Cleveland. On reaching police headquarters, I found two large satchels full of the Cuyahoga Falls goods, with a por- tion of the cost marks still attached, and on going to the jail I found two most villainous looking fellows who had been captured with said goods in their possession. It appeared that they had boarded a Detroit steamer, and had endeavored to exchange a por- tion of the plunder for transportation to Detroit, but exhibited such awkwardness in handling, and such ignorance in regard to the value of the goods, as to excite the suspicion of the clerk of the boat, who put the police upon their track. Being found shortly afterwards in a river saloon, endeavoring to sell their plunder, they were taken into custody, and on arriving at the police station, Gallagher needed but a glance at the contents of the satchels to indicate the source whence they came, and wired me as stated.

Borrowing the necessary "jewels" from the Cleveland offi- cers, I chained the two "commercial travelers" together and brought them and their plunder home with me. The goods cap- tured amounted in value to perhaps $50, while as near as could be calculated at least $1,000 worth had been stolen. The application of the "pump" failed to elicit any definite information in regard to the missing goods, though it was found, from them and other sources, that the fellows had, for several weeks, without any visi- ble occupation, been making their headquarters with a brother of one of them living on the outskirts of the village. The next day (Sunday) this house and vicinity were most thorougly searched by myself, Deputy Sheriff A. R. Townsend, Marshal J. J. Wright, and Constables James Burlison and David A. Scott. The only clue found to the missing goods was several cost mark tags, in a cavity found on the top of a buckwheat straw-stack, where they had evi- dently first been concealed until they could be removed to safer quarters.

The house in question stood on a sidehill, being a story and a half in front, with a basement kitchen in the rear, and a small cel- lar opening out of it under the front part of the house. In this cellar I noticed quite a quantity of loose, gravelly dirt, in a sort of bin, across one end of the cellar, creating an impression on my mind that the goods in question might be concealed in the cavity below, whence said dirt had come, the proprietor of the house, 'in reply to our questions, saying that in excavating for the basement kitchen it had been saved to make the mortar for plastering the kitchen, adding that though he knew it was not very good plaster- ing sand the plasterer thought it would do, for a rough job like that.

Apparently accepting his statement as true, we left the prem- ises without discovering any further traces of our goods. But that dirt continued to agitate the minds of both Wright and my- self, and the next day we repaired again to that cellar, armed with the proper implements, determined to ascertain what there was underneath the dirt. Shoveling the dirt out of the bin, we found the cellar bottom perfectly hard and sound. Assuring ourselves that no excavation had been made there, in which the goods could have been concealed, we shoveled the dirt back into the bin, and began exploring the other parts of the cellar. The space

1157

UNEARTHING THE BURIED PLUNDER.

being a little cramped for two to work to advantage, I left Wright to continue the digging there while I went on a prospecting tour elsewhere. There was a small pantry underneath the stairs lead- ing from the basement kitchen to the room above, and it seemed to me that, on removing the flour barrel and sundry other articles from the pantry, the floor could be raised up like a trap door. This supposition, however, was found to be incorrect, but on feel- ing around, in the darkness, I fished out of a little cubby-hole in the lower angle of the stairs, about a bushel of packages of spices, sauces, etc., which the marshal recognized as part of quite a quan- tity of goods stolen a week or two previously from the grocery store of Adam Schaaf at Bettes' Corners, and also a quantity of carpenters' tools recently stolen from the pattern shop of the Akron Stove Company.

Loading this find into his buggy, Wright proceeded to Akron, and arrested the owner of the house in question, who was work- ing there during the day, and lodged him in jail. The next day, being unable to go myself, Constable Burlison accompanied Wright to the scene of operations, with instructions to dig until they found those goods, if they had to tear up the kitchen floor, or, if necessary, dig over the entire lot. Commencing where Wright had left off the evening before, they had not been long at work, before, close to the partition between the cellar and the kitchen, they struck into soft earth, and presently, a foot or so below the surface, came upon a large tool chest and a smaller box, which, on being elevated to the surface and opened, were found to be filled with the burglarized goods in question. On taking an inventory, the total of the goods thus found, at cost prices, was found to be about $800, the chief clerk of the firm, from his familiarity with the stock, insisting that about $200 worth of the stock was still missing, though the most diligent search of myself and others failed to discover them.

A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY IMPLICATED.

Further investigation implicated the sixteen-year-old son of one of the most repectable families of the neighborhood, and in whose straw-stack the cost-tags above spoken of were found, and he, too, was taken into custody. On being interrogated by Prose- cuting Attorney Henry Mckinney, he made a clean breast of it, relating how he had been inveigled into the schemes of the bur- glars and had assisted them in removing the goods from the store to the straw-stack, whence, on a subsequent night, they were transferred to the place where found, but that no part of the plun- der, or the avails thereof, had as yet come to him.

The outcome of the affair was that the two parties arrested in Cleveland were convicted of the crime of burglary and grand lar- ceny, and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years each; the owner of the house where the goods were found, having been shown by the evidence to have known thereof, though taking no part in the burglary itself, was convicted of concealing stolen property and sent to Columbus for one year, while the boy, by reason of information imparted to the authorities, and impor- tant testimony given for the State, was discharged without prosecution.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

THE "MISSING LINK" FINALLY FOUND.

At that time there was living at Cuyahoga Falls an "American Gentleman of African descent" by the name of Robert Hurst, for short called " Bob," who was reputed to be the possessor of a full complement of extremely "light fingers," and who had many times been arrested and punished for petty pilfering. About a year after the occurrence of the events above narrated, a raid was made by the local officers on " Bob's" domicile, in the loft of which, ingeniously concealed, was found nearly a thousand dollar's worth of almost every conceivable kind of property-shirts, sheets, calico dresses, clothing, hats, caps, boots, shoes, crockery, hardware, dry goods, etc., and among the rest, in perfect good order, the remainder of the goods stolen from the store in my custody as nar- rated, and invoicing just about $200. The only thing that we could get out of "Bob," in regard to them, was that the two ten year convicts above written of had given the goods to him to keep- for them, and it has ever since remained an open question whether "Bob" had a hand in the main robbery, or whether he had inde- pendently raided the store in question on his own hook. Owing to- this uncertainty, "Bob" was indicted for, and convicted of, receiv- ing and concealing stolen property, only, and sent to the peniten- tiary for one year.

A few years later "Bob" immigrated to Akron, where he mainly resided until his recent death, and though seemingly dili- gent in the pursuit of a legitimate "profession"-that of hod- carrier-his theiving proclivities probably clung to him to the end, a raid by Akron officers, on his premises a few years ago, unearthing a quantity of miscellaneous goods and chattels, nearly equal in value to the find at Cuyahoga Falls, as stated.

HOW "BOB" FOOLED THEM ALL. -

Apropos of the foregoing, while "Bob" was in jail during the long vacation, awaiting trial for the offense named, he apparently went into a rapid consumptive decline. Being lean and lank in build, failing to consume his customary rations, with an appar- ently distressing cough, and an occasional spitting of blood, my kind-hearted and sympathetic jailer, the late John L. Robertson, transferred him from the lower to the upper jail, where he could be made more comfortable, and more readily cared for. Here, though carefully doctored and nursed, he rapidly grew worse, his- face, from nearly a jet black, assuming a sallow hue, with an increasing flow of blood from between his gradually bleaching lips, and it was thought by both the jailor and the attending physician that "Bob's" days on earth were numbered. In my occasional visits to the jail, I at length became suspicious that "Bob" was shamming, and determined to keep an eye upon him.

One day, on visiting him, I found him very feeble indeed, hardly able to speak above a whisper, and apparently exceedingly troubled for breath. After sympathetically expressing the hope that he would soon be better, I took my leave, closing the outer door and turning the key in the lock with a snap, but quietly reversing the bolt and leaving the door unfastened. I then walked down the stairs with a heavy tread, and removing my boots noise- lessly ascended the stairs in my stocking feet, and applying my

1159

AN INGENIOU'S EXPEDIENT.

eye to the peep-hole in the door, I found, as I anticipated, that the invalid was skipping around the corridor, with the agility of a French dancing master. After watching his antics for a few min- utes, giving him no warning of my approach, by the usual sounds of ascending the stairs and unlocking the door, I noiselessly threw back the door and confronted him in the midst of a half-executed pigeon-wing. By thus simulating sickness "Bob" had hoped that either he would be sent home to die, from whence he could have skipped to parts unknown, or that his enfeebled condition would so enlist the sympathies of the court and jury as to save him from the penitentiary on the pending charge. On investiga- tion I found that the copious discharges of blood had been produced by the puncturing of his gums with a sharp-pointed nail concealed about his mattress, while the pallor upon his face and lips was produced by the use of dry lime procured by scraping the whitewash from the walls of his room.

HOW "BOB" ESCAPED A SECOND TERM.

A year or two after his return from the "pen" "Bob" found him- self in " durance vile," charged with a states-prison offense. As the day of trial approached, it was discovered by his keeper that he was unable to walk, having, to all appearance, entirely lost the use of his right leg. Believing that the fellow was again shamming, physicians were called in, and some very severe tests were made, such as violently pinching the leg, thrusting needles; pins, etc., into the flesh, etc., but without producing the slightest indication that there was any feeling in the leg whatever. The trial of the case had consequently to be postponed until the next term and during the vacation " Bob " was sent home to be taken care of by his wife. Here he was occasionally seen by the neigh- bors hobbling about his yard on crutches, and it was generally supposed that he would never again be able to walk or work, or even steal. Under these circumstances, the proper authorities, believing that he would be worse than useless to the State, if con- victed, and deeming it inadvisable to carry the case longer upon the calendar, a nolle was entered at the ensuing term of the Court, and "Bob" left to hobble through the balance of his life, on crutches or otherwise, as best he could. Soon afterwards, how- ever, the neighbors were surprised to see "Bob" without his crutches, cavorting around his lot as nimble as an organ-grinder's monkey, his "paralysis" having "mysteriously " left him.

On inquiring of "Bob," subsequently, how he managed to stand all those pinches and punctures without wincing, he very frankly explained that he had produced the numbness in his leg by applying a ligature of black silk or linen thread to his thigh, drawing it so tightly, that it was so covered by the indentation of the skin, as to escape the notice of those who examined him, while at the same time deadening its nervous susceptibilities as indicated.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

WILLIAM CAMP,-born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, February 1, 1809; educated in city public schools, learning the trade of cabinet maker, which business he followed until his removal to Akron, in July, 1854; a few months later associating himself with his old playmate and first cousin, the late Charles Webster, and Mr. James B. Taplin, in the machine business, under the firm name of Webster, Taplin & Co .; changed on the withdrawal of Mr. Taplin, in 1860, to Webster, Camp & Co., and in Jan- uary, 1869, on the accession of Mr. Julius S. Lane, incorporated as The Webster, Camp & Lane Machine Coni- pany, which name it still bears. November 2, 1834, Mr. Camp was mar- ried, at Weathersfield, Connecticut, to Miss Lucy Butler, born in Weath- ersfield, September 11, 1814, who bore him one child, Lucy Frances, who died at six years of age. Mr. Camp was not only zealously devoted to the business interests of his firm and of his adopted city, but a most liberal supporter of the National govern- ment during the War. After long and severe suffering, from kidney affection, Mr. Camp died, March 30, 1869, at the age of sixty years, one

ALFRED R. TOWNSEND.

A LFRED R. TOWNSEND,-born in Cazenovia, New York, February 14, 1810; educated in common schools, learning tailor's trade, in which bus- iness he established himself in Akron in 1834, on March 24, of that year being married, in Akron, to Miss Evelina Blodgett, a native of Starks- boro, Vermont. A few years later Mr. Townsend traveled extensively in Ohio and Kentucky as agent for

BENEDICT OF ca. CHI

WILLIAM CAMP.

month, and twenty-nine days, his remains being taken to Hartford, Connecticut, for interment. Mrs. Camp, in the enjoyment of a fair degree of health, excepting seriously impaired eye-sight, still survives and still retains her stock interest in the prosperous corporation, which her husband aided in founding, over a third of a century ago, and which still bears his name.

Akron's pioneer map publishers, Mannings & Darby; was then for several years employed as collector for Akron's first tinware and stove manufacturer, Col. Justus Gale, after his death assisting Mrs. Gale in set- tling estate; then for several years ran a packet boat, between Columbus and Chillicothe, on Ohio canal ; was Akron's first village marshal and tax collector; 1856 to 1861, deputy, under Sheriff Samuel A. Lane; 1861 to 1867, director of County Infirm- ary; 1862 to 1873, Deputy United States Internal Revenue Assessor; 1873 to 1879, Infirmary director and clerk of board, resigning by reason of failing health. The high esteem in which Mr. and Mrs. Townsend were held was evidenced by the fact that on their 50th wedding anniversary they were presented with a purse of $1,086.50 in gold by their neighbors and friends. Their children were Henrietta S., married to Mr. James H. Emrich, of Sandusky, deceased; Emily G., deceased; and John A., chief telegraph operator at Dunkirk, New York, their only grandson, Charles A. Townsend, now occupy- ing the family homestead, 512 West Market street. Captain Townsend died November 16,1887, aged 77 years, 9 months, 2 days, Mrs. Townsend dying January 22, 1888, aged 83 years, 1 month and 16 days.

1161

PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

FLISHA NASH BANGS, - so11 of James and Martha (Nash) Bangs, born April 10, 1800, at Stanstead, Lower Canada, parents having, about four months earlier, removed thither from Hampshire county, Mass .; common school education; learned carpenter's trade, at 19, removing with parents to Norwalk, Ohio, where, in 1821, he was married to Miss Abigail Wallace, a native of Petersham, Mass .; in 1825, removed to Richfield, and engaged in farming, in 1836 removing to Akron and resuming work at his trade and at mill-wrighting. Mr. and Mrs. Bangs were the parents of two sons Henry L. and William Wallace, both deceased, and four daughters- Adeline A., now Mrs. Barnard, of Chicago; Mary M., now Mrs A. A. Tinkham, of Akron; Louisa H., now Mrs. Simmons, of Chicago; and Celes- tia E., now Mrs. P. J. Moersch, of Akron. In Politics Mr. Bangs was originally a Whig, casting his first vote for John Quincy Adams, for president, in 1824; later he became an ardent anti-slavery man, allying himself with the Republican party on its organization, in 1855; was chief fire warden of Akron many years; First ward assessor seven years; school enumerator seven years, and

PETER J. MOERSCH.

PETER J. MOERSCH,-son of Peter and Catharine (Wollmer) Moersch, was born in New York City, January 12, 1842 ; educated in public schools and at Anglo-German-Franco Col- lege, of New York, with Franz Siegel;

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228